Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 81, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 18, 1998, 7:36 PM CDT for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 44 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 18, 1998, 7:36 PM CDT (00:36 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 1998, 8:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County DeKalb County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 5:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 168 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 782 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 83 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 229 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 393 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.7
- Supercell composite
- 13.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 190036 RRA TORBHM ALC049-190120- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 736 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS EXTENDED THE * TORNADO WARNING FOR... DEKALB COUNTY... IN NORTHERN ALABAMA * UNTIL 820 PM CDT * AT 740 PM CDT... THREE TORNADOES WERE DETECTED...BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR. ONE TORNADO WAS IN EXTREME NORTHEAST DEKALB COUNTY NEAR ROGERS...MOVING OUT OF THE COUNTY QUICKLY. A SECOND TORNADO WAS NEAR FORT PAYNE..AND A THIRD WAS IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE COUNTY NEASR COLLINSVILLE. THE TORNADOES WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR. THIS IS A DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION. IF YOU pARE IN DEKALB COUNTY... TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY! GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR RIGHT NOW!
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 18, 7:20 PM CDT, 16 minutes before
ALZ023-032-039-190125- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 720 PM CDT SAT APR 18 1998 THE TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 246 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN ALABAMA ...TUSCALOOSA... HALE... MARENGO
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 7:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 19 min |
| Apr 18, 7:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 33 min |
| Apr 18, 7:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 7:26 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 4 hr |
| Apr 18, 7:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair, Talladega | 64 min |
| Apr 18, 7:30 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 50 min |
| Apr 18, 7:39 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chilton | 31 min |
| Apr 18, 7:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 7:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 20 min |
| Apr 18, 7:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 8:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Talladega | 62 min |
| Apr 18, 9:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 19 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes in 1998
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.